Saturday, February 10, 2007
*WARNING! This is a very long entry!*
Spent the last few weeks travelling around Europe which includes Italy (Rome), Switzerland (Zurich, Bern, Basel & Appenzell), France (Strasbourg & Paris), Belgium (Brussels) and lastly England (London). It was really an enriching experience to travel to all these places and not least shall be said about those corporate visits. It had definitely broaden my views and knowledge. Let's just say for this trip, I have learnt a lot, WALKED a lot, shopped a lot. Hee. This trip was not only a vacation trip for me but it was also a study tour. Went to all these places with students from Monash University, students ranging from Bachelor degree to Master to MBA. Thus, I also met new people during the trip cause we have different class. What's more, a lot of scandals and couples were born during the trip. Interesting right? I'll try to write out the details of the trip through memory and pictures. haha.
~Rome Visit~
Our first stop was Singapore! haha. We were in Changi to transit for about 5hrs, I think. Left the group to meet my family. Met up with them for a while. Then later on, I went back in to wait at the gate with my friends. They were all sitting down on the floor playing cards. I didn't join in but gave xiao mei a call. She was pretty surprised at first. Anyway, the flight to Rome took about 11hrs if I'm not wrong. Gosh! It was a torture for me. It was almost a whole day of flying. However, knowing me, I can sleep in ALL conditions. LOL. I slept almost half of my journey to Rome. Played cards with lee shan for the other half of the journey. When we finally reach the Rome airport, we were all very hyper, very excited. When we were waiting to get through the customs, I realised I was the only one who slept for a very long time. Hee. *embarrassed* Anyway, our first official stop, ROME! Looking through the itinery, Hotel Torino, the next few days of our home, it was rated FOUR STARS!! We all had our expectations of a four stars hotel but never did we expect it to be such a one star standard. I think it's like those budget hotels. The rooms are pathetic. When we all got our keys we started to compare rooms.
After all these dramas, we separated into different groups and grab a map from the reception and went exploring Rome on our own. It was a little difficult cause most of the locals don't speak English. So we ended up using "hand language". Lunch was o-k-a-y. Later on, the people from the restaurant told us a few places we might want to visit. We took the Metro (something like MRT in Singapore) to a few places. Again, the train ticket-er doesn't speak English. So when we were buying the tickets we were like "hand-signalling" again. We wanted to go Spagna, not knowing how to pronounce it we showed it to her on the map. She pronoun something like "Spain". We were all shocked!! Cause, we don't want to go all the way to Spain!! After a few more minutes of hand signalling, we realised that "Spain" was the place we wanted to go. haha. Spagna was a street filled with shops like Chanel, LV, YSL, Dior. You name it, they have it. Also, we met this old man, he spoke very good english. He told us the history of certain places, places we MUST visit, etc. ha.
Next day, we had our guide, Mr Onofri, and started our tour of Ancient Rome. We visited places like The Forum, Colosseo and Pantheon.
Some interesting fact, Forum has this little corner where Julius Caesar was cremated. And, it has fresh flowers on it everyday. This was a little something I learnt from the old man the day before.
Colosseo is this place where gladiators would fight with each other or animals.
Patheon used to be a temple in the past.
This is the famous Fontana Di Trev. Legend has it that if you throw in one coin you will come back to this place again. Throw two coins, is if you wish to meet someone. Throw three coins if you want to break up with someone. Believe a not, it's up to you.
Later in the day, we went to the Vatican city on our own. Visited St Peter's church. It's really magnificent. It a place where the pope live.Had pasta and pizza everyday in Rome. Anyway, if you get the chance to go Rome, remember to bring sports shoes or any shoes that have flat soles. Cause I wore my boots and heels in Rome and I feet hurt like hell. And, staying in Rome for 2 days is good enough, I think.
The next stop was Zurich. I shall continue in the next post. haha.. I'm lazy already....
YEstie
12:28 PM